Acad. Management Rev. 21(4) pp 990. .
2 E. Schein, Organisation Culture and Leadership, Jossey-Bass, 1985.
3 O'Reilly, C.A., Chatman, J. & Caldwell, D.F. (1991). People and organizational culture: A profile comparison.
approach to assessing person-organization fit. Academy of Management Journal, September 1991, pp. 487-516. .
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THE CULTURAL WEB OF MARKS AND SPENCER.
This concept is further illustrated in Johnson and Scholes's4 cultural web, which is a useful model that can help analyze some of the organizational factors that contributed to M&S's success, as shown in Fig. 2 below:.
Fig 2. MARKS AND SPENCER CULTURAL WEB.
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4 Johnson, G & Scholes, K (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th ed.). London: Prentice Hall.
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SWOT ANALYSIS.
These factors used to make up the winning formula of M&S's management strategy, and propelled M&S to the status of Britain's most efficiently managed company. The SWOT analysis below depicts how the M&S organisational factors discussed earlier became its strengths, and how these very same factors have eventually over time, due to environmental changes and changing consumer tastes, became their weaknesses. .
STRENGTHS Centralised buying office and operations leads to consistency in image and standards Used British suppliers to maintain its reputation for good quality Stocked generic clothing ranges with a wide appeal to public WEAKNESSES Centralised direction meant conformity - managers could not respond to local consumer needs Burgeoning overheads due to its insistence on using British suppliers. Top down management prevented staff from giving feedback Attempted overseas expansion - spreading its resources too thinly Misjudged needs and wants of buying public.
OPPORTUNITIES Building the financial services sector Restructure company Return to core business Review foreign opportunities at a later date Develop e-commerce THREATS Specialist players eroding market share Changing fashion trends and consumer tastes Competitive nature of the market.